Anniversary, Birthday Fun, and Pregnancy...Our life is full!

Today is mine and Russell's 3rd Anniversary! Happy Anniversary Honey! These past years have been really great. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you. A year after and 3 days before is our daughter's birthday. And our next one is due right in the middle of the 4 weeks that separates our birthday's. We really know how to pick the timing, don't we! : )



Here is a picture of us at a recent date. Today Penelope and Russell are both feeling a little under the weather. They finally caught the cold that I have. (I still have a little bit of a lingering cough.) But Russell always gets over colds a lot quicker then I do. So I'm hoping we will be back to good state of health soon.

We had Penelope's birthday party on Sunday, on her actual birthday. It was really nice. We had a pool party at our pool and used the grassy area next to the pool to enjoy food, refreshments, and cake! We mostly invited family, seeing how that made up about 16 people and then a few of her friends. My original plan was to have a laid back party, compared to her first birthday where we had 50 people. But it was still a substantial party in the end. Maybe next year we will have a classic Stade party. Or maybe I'm just not the type to have them with my kids. Only time will tell. LOL. Here are acouple of cute pictures from her birthday.



Russell and I bought her a tricycle for her birthday so in the morning she came down stairs to her pink tricycle. As you can tell she is still in her pj's and she hasn't had her hair brushed. But she really likes it! Russell has to adjust the seat a little closer, she can reach the handle bars and petals but it is still too far away for her to actually cycle. When we are all better I can't wait to have a family day at the park and teach her how to use it!

Here are a couple of other pictures. Here is one of her eating with her friend Jada near the pool.



Her playing in the grassy area with the bubbles.



Her playing with her Uncle Darty.



Her birthday cake, isn't it cute!



And she actually blew out the candle for this birthday. It was so adorable!



Thank you everyone who came it was wonderful to have you all there and thank you for all the kind gifts. It was such a blessing. Here a couple pictures of Penelope enjoying her presents the next day. A castle with little people figurines that her Uncle Darty bought her.



One of the many dress up clothes that her Grandma and Aunt Nicky bought her. Yes we are going to become one of those ridiculous families that show up to Disneyland with their daughter in full fledged princess and fairy outfits. : )



My pregnancy is going well so far. I'm 25 weeks which is over 5 months. There hasn't been any complications, but I have been trying to take it easy. We are thinking about baby names. Right now we are calling him Austyn Thomas. Russell is in love with the name. I really like it too, but I don't know if I am finished looking at names yet. I don't think I am very decisive. Austyn moves all the time. He surely is a bouncing baby boy. And I seem to be getting bigger and bigger. I'll have to have Russell take a picture of my belly soon so I can post it up on here. Other than that we are slowly preparing for our little blessing to arrive. Penelope really doesn't have any idea. We talk about it and I rub my belly to say there is a baby in there. And right now she has only learned to rub her belly and say baby and when I do it to myself she fake bites my belly. It's somewhat of a joke to her. But I am sure that she will do fine with the little addition. She loves kids and babies. And she always had the personality that she wouldn't be good as an only child. So I'm not too worried about her with the little boy.

It's a boy

As many of you already know. We are having a BOY! We found out last wednesday. It is all very excitting. I've been thinking that I was having a boy, but I thought Penelope was a boy and we all know that that wasn't true. LOL. So now we have a lot more stuff to do. We have to repaint the babies room, since our little ones will be sharing. And I have to go through all of her clothes that I have been saving since I found out and I have to go through all her toys.

Here are some pictures from the ultrasound. Our little guy has his arms up by his face, just like Penelope had. And as I look over at Russell taking a nap on the couch he is too! Ha ha. Well we know where they got it from.




We are probably going to get a 4D ultrasound with this pregnancy. We had a lot more ultrasounds with Penelope because of the complications, so it would be nice to get to see our little boy a little more. I'm debating whether or not we are going to do a video of it because we don't have a video of Penelope. But it would be nice to show our little boy when he gets older.

Both Russell and Penelope were there at the ultrasound. At Penelope's it just so happened that we couldn't have a afternoon/evening ultrasound, and the technician was only available once a month. So Russell was totally going to miss it. He said he was okay with it but I felt really sorry for him. So I ended up planning a little surprise for Russell. I had Russ' mom call and pretend to be the doctors office saying they couldn't keep the apointment and had to have it rescheduled for a time Russell would be able to make it. That way he was thrown off the trail a little bit. Then I contacted all local family and friends and had a "surprise it's a girl" party, that upcoming weekend. He went out with his dad for coffee while everyone showed up at our place. Well Russell totally had no idea what was coming. Here is a video of him walking in the door.



I was so excitted that I remember being in almost tears as he approached me. It's a favorite memory. And it ended up that Penelope didn't completely cooperate, so we had another ultrasound that Russell was able to go to.

Well, our little boy, didn't get a huge party. But he did have his daddy and his sister there. And it was still a wonderful moment. : D

lobster feast

For the best flavor and texture, you must prepare lobsters live, and that makes the process a little more exotic than many culinary experiences. We can assure you three things. One: It can be a thoroughly delightful experience. Two: You can successfully pull off a lobster feast even as a novice. Three: It takes lots of practice to look like you know what you're doing. Fortunately, the practice is anything but a chore.

The Coastal Living Cookbook:

The ultimate recipe collection for people who love the coast

I've always wanted to cook live lobster or crab. I know it's a weird thing to inspire for, at least I get that impression from people involved in my life. Every year, the last several summers, I have at some point told Russell, you know, it would be really nice to get some fresh lobster or crab from the pier and cook it at home. And in all reality, I have to do it once. There are tons of places that don't have live crab and lobster fresh form the sea at their fingertips. It's something about summer that makes living in sunny southern california so refreshing. The clear blue skies, the warm weather, the sandy beaches, the suntans, the cool waters, the bbq smoke wellowing in the air.

So I finally decided to do it. Russell and I had another couple over for dinner and I decided to cook lobster. I went to the San Pedro Ports-O-Call and walked through a couple of the fish markets and picked out some lobster. The original plan was the buy 1 1/2 to 2 lbs lobster for each person. But the first location, they only had 6 lb lobster. They were huge. But I was able to find a place with 3-4 lb lobsters. So I got those and ended up inviting over one more couple to help us eat all the food.

Once I drove away with these huge bug like creatures in my car my adventure went from feeling wonderful and excitting to a little scary. I was really going to do this. I had to cook these things. Did getting worried about that slow me down....not at all! LOL. After growing in the adventure as the little hiccups came, we just decided to go with the flow. In the end dinner came without a hitch a little late, but without a hitch (we don't live in the county. Get it, ha ha. Hitch. Country. ha ha. okay moving on.). Anyways I'll let the rest of the pictures and videos speak for themselves. : )

Here's how I brought them home. They were double bagged and placed in a cardboard box with another bag of ice on top. You have to keep them cold to keep them alive. If they die it could be food poisoning so you shouldn't eat them. Needless to say, one of my fears would be to kill them before I cook them. A fairly expensive mistake.



Here I am picking up one of the "little dudes". Yes, I named them. I had to, they were part of a journey with me. Sorry little dude.





Here's a video of me picking up the first lobster and putting it in the pot. I was terrified of picking them up, terrified. But it was time, and I had to do it.



Here's a video of Russell "helping". Plus it's the 3rd lobster so I was growing a little more use to it.



And of course I had to show you the finish product!



Here are all the lobsters ready for some feast.



In the end I truely enjoyed doing it. And would totally do it again, in some form. It has defiantly made me rethink my idea of opening up my own restaurant when I retire. I would be making the same thing over and over and wont be able to try these weird things, just because. And I've also realized that I'm not in any way or form ever able to be a professional chef. Top Chef I am not, LOL.

ohh so cute

Here's some pictures of Penelope's new bed, I've been promising. It's very adorable, but I'll let you look for yourself. : )





Here is also a picture of the family during a trip to disneyland. I think we look ready for another blessing, what do you think? Stade family of four?

book fetish

Every once in a blue moon I go over and actually update my book corner. I know horrible, huh? But I thought I would mention it here. Because, hey, if I didn't you might totally miss it. And whoever really reads this blog might actually want to know what I'm sticking my nose in. LOL

I'm finishing a bible study from Priscella Shirer. Good speaker but to be honest I like Beth Moore a little better. But she is still very good. Just personal taste. We have one more week of the study "He speaks to me: Preparing to hear the voice of God". I'm considering doing Jennifer Rothschild "Me, myself, and lies: A thought closet makeover" this summer with Beth Moore's blog. If your interested here is the first post about it from her blog. My church basically takes a break all summer with all the bible studies I'm in. : (

I finished "You were made for more: The life you have, the life God wants you to have" by Jim Cymbala (my favorite author). And of course it was great. Honestly I picked it up just because it was written by him. I didn't really care what it was about. But wow, God really worked something out. It was really what I needed to hear and get into me. Here's a section that I keep rereading, trying to engrave into my system:

The idea that hardship produces benefits is difficult for us to appreciate today, surrounded as we are by a culture that shuns any kind of pain, no matter the gain. The goal of most people is ease, comfort, and self-gratification. People find it unreasonable to think that challenges and struggles might be a regular part of God's plan for their lives.
This misunderstanding of God's way is exacerbated by too many television preachers. The airways are filled with success formulas (supposedly based on the Bible) that actually pervert God's goal for his people. god predestined us "to be conformed to the image of His Son" (Romans 8:29), not to be the richest, best-dressed, most comfortable folks on the planet. Solomon and some of the other kings of Isreal enjoyed incredible material blessings, yet God sent more than a few prophets to rebuke these men for spiritual and moral bankruptcy. This vital distinction isn't highlighted much in the message of "success"-oriented ministries.
The Bible makes it clear that most believers in the early church experienced nothing that could be described as success. The book of Acts tells how the first Christians were persecuted and chased all over the Mediterranean world. Some of them were killed because of their beliefs. When they faced difficult times, no one stood up and said, "What's wrong with you people? Don't you have enough faith? Just rebuke the devil. Nobody has to die! Stephen's death was unnecessary. He should have just 'confessed' he would live a long, comfortable life. In fact, since God's plan is for everyone to prosper, you all should be living in the biggest houses in Jerusalem. Why are the unbelievers living there? Start claiming those houses and taking them over. Those ungodly people don't deserve them, but we do."
I hope the foolishness of this way of thinking is obvious to you. Paul wrote to one church is a city where he had lasted only three weeks before getting chased out by a mob, "No one [should] be unsettled by these trials. You know quite well that we are destined for them. In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know" (I Thess. 3:3-4)....
....But to conclude that problems and hardship are automatically a sign of Satan's harassment in our lives is too simplistic and unbiblical an explanation. We need a knowledge of God's Word and the discernment of the Holy Spirit to know what is really going on. In fact, I am convinced that more often than not, tough times in the lives of faithful believers are indicators that God is preparing them for something special down the road....

It was something I really needed to hear at that stage of my life. And I'm hoping that I got it. Now that book is sadly over I have started another book I'm very happy about. Russell got it as a Christmas present not too long ago: "Twelve Ordinary Men: How the Master shaped His disciples for greatness, and what He wants to do with You" By John MacAuthor. So far it is really good. I saw that he has also written a book called "Twelve extraordinary women" that looks really interesting. Maybe I can read that afterwards. Hum...

Just a little book fetish

Big Girl Bed

Well I caved. I didn't last very long. I was so excited about the bedding I picked out for Nelly and so was she. You should have seen her. When I took it out of the package she wanted to layout on it, and she was getting upset at me for not unfolding it for her. When we went to go buy her a mattress, she was so excited, she would get up on everyone of those beds and lay down to try them out. And when we left, she cried. Poor thing. It took her a while to realize we had one in the car already waiting for her.

So yesterday, as you can guess, we tried to set up her bed. The bed frame that we got didn't work out very well. There was missing parts and the frame was bent, and it wasn't as cute as it was online. So we ended up just putting her mattress on the ground and letting her sleep on it. No box spring, no bed frame, just the mattress. But she loved it! And she slept so good in her big girl bed. She cried and played a little bit when we put her to sleep last night. But instead of falling asleep on the floor, like I have heard a lot of kids doing. She climbed back into her bed and even pulled the covers over her. It was so cute to watch on the baby monitor. (Yep, I still have the baby monitor with a visual display. I still have not cut the cord.) And right now she is taking a nap in her big girl bed. She's been sleeping for close to 3 hours!

But today I went to Ikea and might have found an adorable bed frame that is white rod iron. I'm going to drag Russell there tonight to hopefully get it. I will post pictures as soon as the bed is officially done. Very excited!

Maybe no more days off for mommy...

I decided this morning that Nelly and I are going to take a day off. We just took it easy and relaxed today and got a whole lot of nothing done. Besides I had to cetch up on my bible study homework for tomorrow. And then I decided that now would be as good as ever to give Nelly some bangs. So I got a water spray bottle, comb and some scissors and cut her bangs at the place of her eye brows thinking they will be just right when the dry. Right?

Um....a little shorter.

Then I was cleaning stuff on my computer and deleted the actual recycle bin icon. Thank God I got that back. And it's a good thing hair grows and she's not old enough to know she has too short of bangs. Plus the short, blunt bangs are in, right?

I know a lot of posts for someone who isn't posting. I don't know if I'm going to keep it up.